"Well, I told you they'd screw it up," Lucien was always goading me about the latest experiment. This time he was no different. "The flaw began at the start, I tried to show you, but you're so damn stubborn sometimes." And he's a pain in the ass I thought.

"Okay, you're right, are you happy now?" I just wanted to get him off the subject.

"No, I'm not. You said some terrible things about me, it hurt." Lucien took a long slow sip from his drink. He likes my scotch though, I thought.

"Look, it was all part of the process. You can't deny it got interesting." I had to admit myself, even though it looks like this second attempt was a failure, it did get pretty damn interesting at times. I might say, even great entertainment near the end.

"You even made up names about me. After all we've been through, you just went and made me out to be some evil meddler without even asking me first." I could tell Lucien was really hurt. I never suspected he was this upset. "I played along just to make sure you couldn't blame me for the failure of the second round."

That's true. He played his role well... almost too well. "Oh come-on old friend, you enjoyed it. Admit it, you did have some fun."

He maintained a cold stare into the his nearly empty glass. What was going through his head? I had no way of knowing. After all this time, I thought I knew Lucien, but this new funk of his had me perplexed. I had never seen him like this before. "Well," he started slowly, "sure, at times. But that's not me, you know? I could only keep it for so long." Another long slow sip, this time, emptying the remains. "I'm just happy it's over." Looking up, he connected eyes for the first time in a long time, "It is over, isn't it?"

"Are you worried I won't end it?"

"Yes." His stare was devoid of feeling or emotion. Something had really riled him.

"Well, I have to. There's no other choice now. We have to clean the slate, give everything some time to recover, and start over."

"I don't trust you."

What the hell? What has come over him. Now I was completely confused. "What can I do to regain your trust?"

He glanced out the window, waved to my son who was just returning home from the university. "I'll tell you what you can do, do what he wishes," he gestured out the window, toward my son, "he never got to finish."

Had the two of them been sneaking around behind my back? "Really? I thought he had outgrown that concept?"

"Oh no," A brief smile flashed across Lucien's face, "he's been hard at work building the simulated models for how it would play out if allowed to finish. It's actually very promising. You ended that one much too soon."

The outer door opened, looking somewhat rushed, my seemingly scheming son rushed into the living room, "Hey dad, hi Lucien" They exchanged a smile, Lucien waved some kind of low gesture, as if telling him to back off. These two were up to something!

"Okay, you two win. It seems that old friends and upstart sons are having to scheme their little plans behind my back these days."

"Well, you have been hard to talk to during this second round." Lucien winked as he said that.

"Okay, we'll do it Jesus's way this time."

Jesus clapped, "Excellent, we're going to try the dinosaurs again?"

"Yes," I had been hoodwinked.

"Great," Jesus said, "and stop calling Lucien, 'Satan', he doesn't like that."


[Edited on 22-7-2003 by William]

hehehehehe that's tickled my evil streak